Who Voted For Whom, And How

Side Issues On The P-NG Tax Fight Who Voted For Whom, And How Goes Trade And Commerce?

From a New Guinea Correspondent

If the matter ever was in doubt, there is certainly none 3w about how the residents of Papua-New Guinea have re irded the recent fight by the Taxpayers’ Associations in this erritory.

3T month’s election, and resig lation, of the three Taxpayer mpported candidates for the dative Council was a victory, ything went more or less ac ng to plan and the weeks since resignations have shown that Guinea people are generally in ;ment with the stated prin -3 of the Associations. This is cularly so in regard to the for conducting a wide scale imic inquiry before considering and in protesting against the ler in which the present tax introduced.

latever happens within the

few weeks, Canberra ought to forget that general public ide. ere have been, however, a ier of interesting side issues developments. There was, for nee, the fuss surrounding the

?ht-from-the-shoulder, first

last speech, of Mr. Jack per at the Legislative Council irted October PIM ). Taxation nation elements in Port sby dissociated themselves some of his opinions and the nr even grew that Mr. per’s own association, the New ea Taxpayers’ Association, was jased.

Mr. Chipper's View

Is was quickly scotched in ul by the president of the :iation, Mr. Dudley Jones. . Chipper’s own feeling was of disappointment that an ;nt of the Port Moresby asso m had thought fit to break from the unity of the taxa cause. “They started running they smelt the powder burn he said. ravelled from Port Moresby to ul with Mr. Chipper after the lative Council meeting and impressed by the number of e at all points who congratu- Mr. Chipper on his state s and the stand which he had i. . Chipper admitted that some is remarks might have been :reet “if uttered a year ago”.

He said that since then the situa tion had drifted so badly that tact and euphemism were no longer of value. This had prompted him to make a bald statement of affairs, in an attempt to drive home the urgency of the situation.

“If a small section of the com munity can’t take hard facts, it is just bad luck,” he said.

Mr. Thomas 7 Position

Another side issue has concerned the position of the defeated Islands candidate, Mr. W. T. Thomas, who stood against Mr. Chipper. Mr.

Thomas is a Kokopo district planter.

Claims have circulated to the effect that the Islands election de generated into a “Rabaul v. Kokopo enmity campaign”, and that Mr.

Thomas was let down by the very people from whom he had expected support. Neither claim is true.

It cannot be denied that there is a great diversity in economic thought, personal life, and general opinion between the two places. (Over)

t else can be expected, when is an agricultural producing e and the other a commercial trading centre? presentatives from both camps made it quite clear in the few weeks that the difference no deeper than that. They laughed at any suggestion of ty or rivalry, and have pointed that the election was fought i clear-cut issue of opinion irning tax. the evidence points squarely lis fact. If tax had not been issue, the outcome could well been vastly different.

Didn't Let Him Down re damaging is the suggestion Mr. Thomas’ own people in po let him down. To under - 1 this point of view means first 3fine what is meant by “his people”. To think simply in ; of the Kokopo electorate is rect, because the bulk of po voting power comes from pope Roman Catholic Mission, feet a town in its own right, ated policy was to support the ayers’ Association ticket. other words, Mr. Thomas’ im ite supporters are in the Ko planting community, and is nothing to prove that they im down. It was not their if the mission swung a greater I power. )ther big issue hanging over ?erritory as the taxation tur continues to seethe concerns fleet, if any, on the commer ife of the community.

What Of Trade?

urvey over the past few weeks indicated that opinions held one businessman to another widely, although tending to ato three main groups. ; first group claims that there een no change, or at least no leant change; the second ad a mild slump, but believes tions will again stabilise in a aratively short time; and the (fortunately a minority) s that the downhill road of no i has commenced. the managing director of one •W Guinea’s oldest and biggest anies was quite frank in his ?rs to me when he said: .king for ourselves we have worries at present. We can lute this no doubt to con good prices for copra and i for the time being, no one >e very sure what will happen, thinking businessmen realise, ver, whatever their own line, the cocoa and copra markets contain the ultimate future of ferritory insofar as finance is rned.